When She Crumbles
by slowrabbits
Summary: When she sobbed into his chest, her tears staining his shirt and breaking his heart, he felt a little relieved when she let herself crumble.


**When** **She** **Crumbles**

by _slowrabbits_

* * *

Some days she hides.

Beck can never tell when she will chose to do so, until one day, he can't reach her, can't get through to her.

One of his arms snake around her shoulders, but she doesn't melt into him, like she normally would. It was as if she didn't sense him and that was odd because she was usually almost hypersensitive to his presence. She doesn't greet him, doesn't tip her head up to kiss him but she closes her locker door, slowly turns with her books clutched to her chest and pins him with a look people misconstrue as vacant, but Beck knows better.

So much emotion flicker into her sea foam green orbs but in an instant, they are blank and flat like a doll's eyes. He has certainly seen that look on her before, but really, nothing can prepare him for the icy claws that grip his heart whenever she was like that.

"What's wrong?" he asks seriously, hands automatically reaching out to take her books.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" he prods when she doesn't answer.

"No," she replies finally, he voice small. "Not now."

There is an almost indiscernible twitch between her brows, but Beck catches it: the nervous tic her face does when she's holding back tears. As a man who has exhausted all the words and phrases to comfort his girlfriend, he doesn't say anything now because he knows that they never help Jade, not really. So he would wait her out and be there when she was ready to feel better.

Until third period, he observes her. Her lackluster is worrisome. Jade has never been much of a talker, but she exuded enough intensity that people knew she was real, that she was alive. Beck was aware of his girlfriend's tendency to act dead sometimes; numbness was her defense mechanism against the deluge of emotion she did not know how to deal with (did not want to deal with). He did not begrudge her for it, but he did wish that she would talk to him about it.

"Do you want to get out of here?" he asked as he leaned across to her seat.

She nodded and it was all he needed to stuff her books into his backpack, shoulder her purse and lead her out by the hand when the teacher is too distracted writing a long formula on the whiteboard.

Silently they escape Trigonometry and easily navigate the halls of Hollywood Arts.

The pair of them ended up in his truck in the parking lot. It is outdated, ugly and almost useless during its worse days, but Beck loves its charm. There are too many memories in here and while Beck wouldn't claim he was sentimental, he didn't really see the sense in giving up the ol' 'Zooming Load of Rat Crap', as Jade affectionately called it.

Many days had seen him and Jade spending copious amounts of time in here, looking up at stars at the back on a blanket, listening to cheesy country music they secretly enjoyed on the sound system Beck installed himself, dipping potato chips in her father's hundred dollar jar of caviar and washing it down with wine she also stole away. Some days, when it all got to be too much, she cried in here, while Beck had his arms wrapped around her and sang softly in her ears, that sad Tim McGraw song complete with the silly, exaggerated accent that made a hesitant smile creep into Jade's lips.

Silence shrouded the car, but it was a good kind; like the warmth bought on by being wrapped around a comforting quilt while sitting in front of a fire during a snow storm.

"Now?" he prodded gently. Beck knew better than to harass the gory details out of his girlfriend, but sometimes, she needed just a little nudge.

His eyes were glued to her face. He knew its every expression, every spasm and what it meant. Gone was the blank expression she assumed, the glaring eyes or the sly smile that hid all the hurt and anger. He watched her bottom lip tremble before she pressed them together.

Bottled up and hidden away, her emotions were a turbulent storm when uncorked. So when she sobbed into his chest (her tears staining his shirt and breaking his heart), he felt a little relieved when she let herself crumble.

* * *

_Because he would always pick up the pieces._

* * *

**AN:** There isn't really a story behind this. Just musing on how Beck would deal with a firebomb like Jade having a seriously shit time.


End file.
